Guide to Select Rules for Pro Bono Practice

Published on 30 June 2019 This resource provides a summary of select practice and other ethics rules that apply to pro bono legal services by lawyers in the United States

In-House Practice Rules

Numerous in-house attorneys, though admitted and in good standing in one or more U.S. jurisdictions or in a foreign country, are not licensed in the states in which they currently work. The practice rules in all but two states permit in-house counsel licensed in other U.S. jurisdictions to represent their in-state employer.

The practice rules in about half of U.S. jurisdictions also permit in-house counsel licensed in a foreign country to represent their in-state employer. While some U.S. jurisdictions require non-locally licensed in-house counsel to apply for registration or certification to work for their in-state employer as in-house counsel, others permit non-locally licensed in-house counsel to practice under an authorization exception to the jurisdiction’s rules on the unauthorized practice of law.